Cross-cut then extend

    Keywords: MiddleGame, Proverb

The proverb Crosscut ? Then extend ( or The first to extend from a crosscut has the advantage) is somewhat misleading. There has been a lot of criticism that can be read at the /Technical Discussion page. A way to interpret the proverb is to reduce it to a not so common situation:

When there are no other stones nearby, extending from the crosscut gives the advantage

Some diagrams to explain.

[Diagram]

Isolated crosscut

An isolated cross-cut. Black to play.

It is tempting to play atari. Then connecting at B3 is a good idea. However, this strengthens White and weakens the lone Black stone. A ladder at a may be possible.

[Diagram]

Extend

After the more defensive-looking extension it is White's turn. However White has to make a choice of her own which stone to strengthen. This is in fact an application of the 1-2-3 principle: if you are going to strengthen at B3 in the previous diagram, why not do it at once as in this diagram.


Authors



Nobody seemed to object to my draft, so I replaced the old content of this proverb with the draft and moved the old content to a discussion page. --Dieter



This is a copy of the living page "Cross-cut then extend" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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